| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | With coronavirus infections spiking in neighborhoods across the five boroughs, New York City conjured up an ambitious mass vaccination campaign complete with residents lining up at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium to get their shots. Now those plans are off indefinitely because vaccine supplies are lagging. Mayor Bill de Blasio's pledge to vaccinate 1 million New Yorkers in January is now likely out of reach. The city had given out 628,831 shots as of Sunday, with just a week left in the month. It has only 19,000 first doses left on hand. While more are expected to arrive from the federal supply this week, it won't be nearly enough to clear up the logjam. The 15 vaccine hubs the city did open, but shuttered for lack of supply, will remain closed for at least another few days. De Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have been pleading with the Biden administration to deliver more shots. So far the new CDC head has been noncommittal, though President Joe Biden said Monday he is aiming, perhaps, to get the country up to 1.5 million shots a day. "We urgently need more supply," de Blasio said Monday, promising the city will do half a million vaccinations a week if only it gets enough shots. "If we have the full partnership of our colleagues in government and the manufacturers, we can move vaccinations at a staggering level." With numbers like these, don't count on New York City getting indoor dining back any time soon. IT'S TUESDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE'S ANDREW? No public schedule available by press time. WHERE'S BILL? Appearing live on MSNBC's Morning Joe at 8:30am, holding a media availability and an interfaith dialogue on the Covid-19 vaccine. | | | | TRACK THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: A new president occupies the White House and he is already making changes. What are some of the key moments from Biden's first week in office? Find out in Transition Playbook, our scoop-filled newsletter tracking the appointments, people, and emerging power centers of the first 100 days of the new administration. Subscribe today. | | | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "THREE OF New York City's five public employee pension funds are divesting $4 billion from securities related to fossil-fuel companies . Pensions for teachers, school administrators and civil servants voted to divest their holdings, according to a statement Monday from Mayor Bill de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer and retirement board trustees. Police and fire department pension funds haven't voted to divest. Investment managers and finance firms have come under increasing pressure to address climate change. In 2018, New York became the first major U.S. city to commit to divesting public pension funds from fossil fuel holdings." Bloomberg's Alex Wittenberg A GROUP OF Brooklyn Democratic district leaders are asking mayoral candidates to boycott the party's debate over racist remarks made by a local official. Three candidates, Dianne Morales, Carlos Menchaca and Andrew Yang, say they will refuse to participate. The Brooklyn Democratic Party — which has been riven in recent months by public clashes between party stalwarts and left-leaning reformers in its ranks — announced a virtual debate set for Sunday night for candidates for mayor, city comptroller and Brooklyn borough president. But four Democratic district leaders and dozens of county committee members asked candidates to refuse to participate in the event, citing party leaders' handling of a controversy over social media posts by Marine Park district leader Lori Maslow. POLITICO's Erin Durkin — A fundamentally new approach to how voters choose a nominee — by ranking their top picks — is forcing the candidates to chart an unknown course in campaigning and shaking up the typical math for a city primary. "THE PANDEMIC set off an extraordinary surge in biking in New York City as people sought to avoid public transit and embrace new ways to exercise. But now the spike has run headlong into a familiar problem on the city's congested streets : no parking. Cyclists have rolled up to apartment buildings, offices, stores and restaurants only to find nowhere to leave their bikes. Many lug them inside, or improvise makeshift parking by locking them to street signs — breaking a city law that is rarely enforced — or trees, gates and fences. The lack of parking, cyclists and advocates complain, has even helped fuel a jump in bike thefts. Tasha Rose said she gets stressed trying to find a safe place to park her bike while riding around Brooklyn and Queens picking up food donations from local residents and groups to stock free community refrigerators. She had two bikes stolen last year after locking them to fences." New York Times' Winnie Hu #DownstateAmerica: Everything bagel ice cream? Please weigh in on this monstrosity, bagel aficionados. | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "LIFTING the ban on elective surgeries at Erie County hospitals could be just the start of a loosening of pandemic-related economic restrictions now that the region's rate of Covid-19 infections has fallen from an all-time high earlier this month. The relaxed restrictions could be announced as soon as Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The governor said he expects to announce 'adjustments' to the restrictions on Wednesday, most likely those related to rules that fall under the state's color-coded microcluster zones. Cuomo announced an end to the elective surgery ban Monday during a briefing at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The ban on elective surgeries went into effect Dec. 4." Buffalo News' Aaron Besecker — Still, New York state will request permission from the federal government to cancel spring assessments for grades 3-8 for a second straight year. — The top Democrat on the state Senate Investigations Committee threatened to subpoena the state Health Department to release the total number of nursing home residents who died of Covid-19. "FIRST, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget last week quietly proposed letting companies interested in New York City-area casinos to submit preliminary plans. Then, late Friday, an eagerly anticipated consultant's report on the future of gambling in New York appeared unannounced on the state Gaming Commission's website — more than a year after it was originally expected. The big findings? State revenue of $500 million to $800 million a year is possible if the state allows racetracks with video-lottery terminals in Queens and Yonkers to become full-scale casinos and/or allow for new casinos in New York City. The two developments might signal a willingness by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift a moratorium on new casinos in place until 2023 because the state needs new revenue to close a $15 billion deficit over the next two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are a variety of possibilities if the state were to move forward this year with allowing three remaining casino licenses to be granted after seven were authorized by voters in a 2013 referendum. Four are already open in upstate New York." USA Today Network's Joseph Spector "PEOPLE booking vacation rentals in New York on sites like Airbnb Inc. could soon start paying sales taxes that home-sharing companies would collect under a proposal included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $193 billion budget. Aides to the Democratic governor say the proposal could generate an additional $10 million for the state in the fiscal year that starts April 1, and $18 million in subsequent years. Roughly the same amount of money would also flow to local governments around the state, which also levy their own surcharges on top of the state's 4% sales tax. The proposal was embraced by the group representing the state's county governments, but it could revive a broader debate about how home-sharing companies are regulated in the state, lawmakers said, which is fueled by different concerns in different parts of the state. 'I think it's now opportune for us to have this larger conversation,' said state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat from Orange County, who favors changing state law to allow for short-term rentals in multifamily buildings." Wall Street Journal's Jimmy Vielkind — The budget book also states plans to convene a commission to study the role that mental health officials have in New York's Family Court system. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Unions representing essential workers are urging legislative leaders to quickly pass a bill from Senate Deputy Leader Mike Gianaris that would mandate minimum standards for workplace safety including testing, hygiene, PPE and social distancing protocols. The letter to leaders Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie , signed by union heads such as RWDSU's Stuart Appelbaum and IBT Joint Council 16's George Miranda, notes that it may be months before all of the state's essential workers can get vaccinated. New standards not only could curb preventable deaths, but "will be critical in ensuring that New York is prepared for future infectious disease outbreaks," labor leaders write. #UpstateAmerica: Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, famous for its internet star April the Giraffe , has discovered its new baby red kangaroo named Cosmo, which has all white fur and could be one of the only known leucistic red kangaroos in the world. | | | | HAPPENING TODAY - DRAWING THE ETHICAL LINE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: As AI becomes increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives, there are concerns about biases in these systems and ethical standards to guide their fair use. Without an international framework or set of principles governing AI, the ethical guidelines for its use vary across countries and cities and sometimes even come down to individual policymakers, elected leaders, the private sector, and grassroots advocates' work. Join POLITICO for a conversation to explore the pace of global AI innovation and development and what it means for the future of ethical standards in this space. The virtual program features an executive conversation between POLITICO CEO Patrick Steel and Workday EVP of corporate affairs Jim Shaughnessy. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "THE LONG-STALLED Gateway Project, which at its core includes building a new train tunnel under the Hudson River between Penn Station and New Jersey, and rehabilitating the existing 110-year-old Sandy-damaged tunnel, is expected to move to the front of the infrastructure project line under the Biden administration, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confidently declared on Monday. 'I've got plenty of money,' Schumer said on a conference call with advocates and reporters. 'I've called [incoming Transportation] Secretary Buttigeig, I've spoken to President Biden to release this money ASAP. If we're not making progress I'm going to call on all of you to help.' Under the Trump administration, the project was stalled when the U.S. Department of Transportation refused to look at the environmental review, which was submitted in February, 2018." WNYC's Stephen Nessen | | Scranton on the Hudson | | "THE U.S. SUPREME COURT kept alive federal litigation that could cost New York a big chunk of the billions of dollars in taxes it collects from nonresidents working for New York-based employers. The state of New Hampshire had asked the Supreme Court to review a policy under which the neighboring state of Massachusetts has collected income tax from New Hampshire residents who formerly commuted to jobs in Massachusetts, but who have been required to work from home during the pandemic…. After discussing the New Hampshire filing in their conference on Friday, the nine justices might have simply refused to hear the case. On the other extreme, they might have agreed to take the case right away. Instead, the justices chose a third route, summed up in a single sentence in today's order list: 'The Acting Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States.' The Solicitor General of the United States works for the President—so, in effect, the justices want to know if Joe Biden thinks they should take up this case." Empire Center's E.J. McMahon — The Supreme Court also let ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's conviction stand. | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — De Blasio backed a bill to expand the number of permits offered to street vendors. — A state Supreme Court judge ordered that doctors begin administering experimental Covid-19 drug ivermectin to an ICU patient. — New York's driving conditions are NOT the worst in the country, according to a Wallet Hub survey, but that's news to us. — Some Senate Democrats are pushing for $900,000 to provide free internet access to residents of state-run group homes. — Dozens of party-goers have been hit with rare $1,000 fines after sheriffs busted an illegal pandemic party in Queens. — De Blasio said he was "shocked" that a grand jury did not indict a Staten Island bar owner for driving into a sheriff's deputy. — A Bronx restaurant fired an employee after they made homophobic comments to a gay couple. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Derek Lyons … Justin Green … Jarrod Bernstein … Jim Papa … Daryn Kagan ... Paul Feinman ... Raizi Gruenebaum Chechik MEDIAWATCH: "Legendary WCBS Newsradio 880 reporter Rich Lamb has announced that he will be retiring next month after 50 years in the broadcast radio news business." MAKING MOVES: The United States Mission to the United Nations in New York will announce several new appointments by President Joe Biden: Sohini Chatterjee and Zach Vertin as senior policy advisers, Olivia Alair Dalton as communications director, Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis as the acting alternate representative for special political affairs, Aditi Gorur as policy adviser, Laurence Pevsner as speechwriter, Kelly Razzouk as deputy chief of staff for policy, and Jasmine Wyatt as special assistant. FIRST IN NY PLAYBOOK — Kara Gustafson is joining the Aspen Institute as executive director of the Finance Leaders Fellowship. She is a former Goldman Sachs social impact executive. | | REAL ESTATE | | "PROPERTY taxes are due, but Deborah Pusatere doesn't have the cash to cover the small apartment buildings she manages throughout the Capital Region. Pusatere, New York Capital Region Apartment Association president and co-leader of the Under One Roof NY Coalition, said while there are some tenants who have true coronavirus-related issues that have impacted their ability to pay rent, many others are taking advantage of the situation. 'Depending on the social scene a tenant runs in, the bad behavior is contagious. So when tenant one tells tenant two they don't have to pay, tenant two tests the waters and realizes there is nothing you can do and it spreads like cancer,' she said. 'Especially when you have buildings next to each other and tenants know each other.' "New York lawmakers late last year extended a statewide eviction moratorium that places a 60-day stay on eviction proceedings and provides a hardship form that tenants can submit to the courts to halt any eviction proceedings until May 1. But landlords contend many of their tenants owing thousands of dollars in unpaid rent are gainfully employed and are simply not paying. Meanwhile, rent relief programs have struggled to get money into the hands of those who need it most, and few of those programs allow landlords direct access, requiring the tenant to request the assistance." Times Union's Amanda Fries "EAST HARLEM escaped Superstorm Sandy relatively unscathed because of luck, timing — and the moon. Had the tides been slightly different when the storm hit in October of 2012, the low-lying neighborhood would have been inundated, according to flood researchers. Just a six-hour shift, a recent analysis confirms, would have brought fast-moving water in with the tide. The risks to East Harlem are no secret to city officials — or locals who say their streets regularly flood in strong rain. In 2017, City Hall set out to study how best to protect the area. With $1 million in hand from the federal government, the city hired consultants in 2017 to create a 280-page 'vision plan' for how to make East Harlem resilient to climate change, according to press releases and project proposal documents...The report was completed in 2018. What's in it, however, is still a mystery." The City's Rachel Holliday Smith
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